It's the water!

Our last outing in Washington before heading our separate ways was a delightful one. We met the whole fam for dinner at the Falls Terrace in Tumwater, near Olympia.

Seeing everybody one last time before departure was treat enough, but as a bonus my group arrived early and had time to explore this lovely park adjacent to the restaurant.

The picture above is of the Deschutes River flowing under its very handsome bridges downstream from the falls.

The restaurant has a great view of the river and falls, as you can see here, in this shot taken from the other side of the stream...

...but it was nothing compared to what we were able to see on our little walk around the area...

the whole upper falls

another look at that bridge, this time with rhododendrons as a bonus

both falls

In this part of the country, you've got to take spawning salmon into account, and they did that here via the salmon ladders under these metal walkways—hearing the roaring water under your feet as you walked along them was rather exciting!

salmon walkways from across the river

Being in this somewhat quirky corner of the country, it wasn't too surprising to find some quirky decorations around here, too. 

"love locks" on a fence next to the upper falls

And, there was also historical significance. This site was where the first Americans settled on Puget Sound (the Brits were here before) in 1845... as we learned from this plaque (click to enlarge so you can read it):

There's even more history here. The buildings on the other side of the river from the restaurant are the site of the original Olympia Brewing Company, famous for its water (and the slogan that I appropriated for my post title)...

it does look like water that would make great beer, doesn't it?

I remember in my youth being told that Olympia (along with Coors, which you could only buy in Colorado in those days) was a really first class brew. And we were  right where the picture for the original label was set, as this informational sign told us:

The brewery's somewhere else now, but the water, and the falls, are still here and still first class in the scenery department...

A beautiful spot to use as a farewell to this fantastic part of our country. But we'll be back!

Wordless Wednesday: Garbo talks!

Paradise for trees

The Pacific Northwest is not only good for flowers, but it must be a perfect ecosystem for trees. 

We learned this a couple of years ago during our redwoods trip in northern California. But the idea was strongly reinforced by our recent time in Washington.

So tall, so lush, so enormous in every dimension—take a look at this typical specimen in a Centralia playground...

Hal couldn't resist trying to climb...
handily providing scale for me in the process

Here's a gallery of photos that just skims the surface of the amazing arboreal scenery on offer in the greater Seattle area...

can you imagine having this as the vacant lot next door?
my nephew and new niece do!

another look at that Centralia playground

looking up from the playground equipment

this amazing specimen is in the Centralia Square park

dads and kids on a hike in Centralia

another look at the trail in Centralia...with our point kid

As I found to be true in the redwood forests, the micro-views are as interesting as the macros in these wonderful spaces...

bark closeup masquerading as abstract art

mossy trunks hollow at the base, on our hike in Centralia

we couldn't decide if these were tree seedlings or some other kind of plant altogether

Then, there are other ways in which woody biota is in use around here...both commercially...

...and artistically...

a delightful maze at the Olympia childrens' museum

Yes, a paradise for tree-lovers as well as the trees themselves!

The World as Garden

It seems that way in the Pacific Northwest in April! Amazing what consistent moisture and cool temperatures will do for flowering plants.

I told you about the cherry blossoms that blew our minds in my last post, but there were so many other wonderful flowers everywhere I looked.

The rhododendrons shown above were in the park across from our hotel in Centralia. Here's another shot of them, with a young human along for scale:

These prodigious bloomers come in all kinds of colors. I really liked the red ones, but these pale lavender beauties in Tumwater came in a close second:

And they're so showy, they're pretty even when they're just budding...

almost there! at Tumwater

As I knew from Amy, tulips are what this region is really famous for. And although I was sorry not to be able to get up to see the fields near her place (my one gripe about the Seattle area concerns the traffic) we did get to see lots of tulips decorating flower beds everywhere...

also in the Centralia Square park

in downtown Seattle

a very distinctive variety, back in Centralia

We missed the peak of East Texas' dogwoods a few weeks ago, but were rewarded by some lovely examples of this tree in Washington.

the usual white variety at the children's museum in Olympia

a pretty pink variant in Centralia...

...up close and personal

There were lots of blooms I couldn't identify, but enjoyed all the same...

gorgeous orange in downtown Seattle

extravagantly fragrant flowering tree in Olympia

Even the leaves of many plants were stunning...

striking fleshy foliage in Olympia

autumn-looking leaves in spring, near Pike Market

While most of the showiest displays were cultivated, even the wildflowers joined in the performance. Yes, even the lowliest of them...dandelions never look this good in south Texas!

flowery baseball outfield at a park in Centralia

Wordless Wednesday: just a peek

Cherries Jubilee

Can you believe that a tree this large can be so completely covered in blossoms?! 

We saw many amazing cherry trees in full bloom during our time in the Seattle area. (Thanks, Matt and Danaé, for such perfect wedding timing!) But it would be hard to top the giant tree right across the street from our hotel. 

The shot above is from my third floor room window. Here are some more, in different light and from different angles...

street level, in sun, with cars for scale

a little closer...

...and even closer...

...and closer yet

There were trees like this (although not as massive) all over the area. Here's a row of them that made an ordinary strip center (near a brew pub where we had a couple of dinners) a garden of delight:

What's possibly even more astonishing is that these beauties are only one of the flower species on display in springtime around Puget Sound. Next time I'll share some photos of tulips, dogwoods, rhododendrons, and more!

flower commercialization at Pike Market

Greater Seattle

After our day of sight-seeing in the big city, we moved our bases of operation to the southern part of Puget Sound in anticipation of wedding festivities in and around Centralia. And we found, to our delight, that there was plenty to see in that area, too.

The shot above is of a busy marina in Olympia, with the extremely handsome Washington state capitol in the background. Yes, the clouds have returned, but we still dodged the rain bullet, and only got slightly sprinkled on during our excursions in the area.

Olympia isn't just the state capital, but also a bustling port. In addition to marinas like the one shown above, there were also some larger vessels loading here. And I expect the most common cargo must be enormous logs like these...

While walking the length of one block in Olympis (admittedly slowly, since the granddaughter had to stop frequently and do a lot of dirt and rock examining, as well as climb up and run down any incline numerous times) we saw 2 or 3 of these trucks heading for the docks...

They have a LOT of really big trees up here! And I'll show you some of them (still in the ground) in a future post.

We were pretty impressed with Olympia—they have a nice farmer's market, coffee-snob-approved coffee shops, and a terrific children's museum where we spent most of a day with the grandchild. And we also had a big family lunch at Tugboat Annie's, a funkily authentic seafood eatery right on the water, complete with cute decorative touches and great food...

note the personalized Texas plate that reads "San Antonio" on the far right

I have kids who agree that "beer is the answer..."

It's actually pretty easy to be "on the water" around here, and it's not surprising that they have such great seafood*...take a look at this map of the Sound posted at a waterfront park:

so many little inlets, sloughs (no doubt!) and lakes!

*Although it's apparently not all locally sourced! Here's a display that caught our eye in the Pike Market:

I wonder if they were shipped in on the same plane as our Maine-rs?

Finishing up my impressions of Olympia, you just can't say enough about their capitol building. Isn't it a handsome structure? And in a great setting...

capitol from across its lake, in the parking area for Heritage Park
(note, again, the clear blue sky!)

from a neighboring street (we don't know what the pinwheels are for;
 some kind of protest or memorial?)

Centralia, where the wedding festivities happened, has its interesting aspects, too. In fact, right across the street from our Centralia Square Ballroom and Hotel (it's so nice to be quartered in the same venue as the event!) was a lovely little park with not only lots of wonderful flowers and trees (more about these in later posts), but also a very intriguing set of memorials. 

Part of it is a somewhat traditional listing of the war dead of  of the area...

and that's a handsome Carnegie Library (built in 1911) in the background

Here's another shot of the slab with the names listed, and with members of younger generations in the background...

The statue, however, doesn't memorialize war dead, at least not directly. It seems that on Armistice Day, 1919, just a year after the end of World War I, there was a violent labor confrontation in this quiet little town, between American Legionnaires and members of the IWW, or "Wobblies." Here's Wikipedia's information on the incident. 

The memorial lists names of the marching veterans who were killed in the riot:

Later a Wobbly was taken from the local jail and lynched, as well. Another, more lurid, account of the incident was painted on a wall of our very hotel, a mural facing the square and providing one side of a lovely veranda where it was quite nice for us to sit and wait for the wedding fun to begin...

two flower girls wait for their big moment

Believe me, it caused quite a bit of puzzlement as we sat and relaxed. I think you'll agree if you study the reproduction in the link above. It was good to find that link and get a full explanation of its symbolism, although we did have some ideas about its subject matter after we visited the memorial across the street. 

Fascinating small-town history, indeed!

The hotel was a very interesting place, recently refurbished but retaining a lot of its 1920's charm (and lack of amenities: no TVs—not missed—or elevator!).

And across the street was that lovely park, where the big attraction is a marvelous, massive, cherry tree in full bloom! You can see some of it in this shot I took of the hotel façade (along with a glimpse of that mural). 

More about cherry blossoms, and other fabulous Washington spring flowers, next time!